Elusive Happiness
by The Dark Knight's Revenge
Summary: The last thing Ethan Chandler needs on the eve of the apocalypse is his estranged sister showing up on the doorstep with a dark secret. The last thing Victor Frankenstein needs is more temptation. When will the darkness lift and allow our heroes true happiness?
1. Chapter 1

"FURTHERMORE, if you don't do something soon, we're all going to end up in H-"

"Mr. Chandler... You have a guest." Simbene's calm voice broke through the heated argument that was occurring in the drawing room.

"Jesus Christ, if it's the shithead inspector from Scotland Yard, I'll-"

"It is a woman." Simbene cut Ethan off. Ethan frowned, glanced around then gestured to Simbene, lost for anything else to do. He had no idea who would be wanting to call on him at this point in time. It couldn't possibly be Hecate, she wouldn't dare come here in human form. He hadn't solicited any other female company in quite some time.

"I wasn't aware you were seeing anyone, Mr. Chandler?" Vanessa said, her face transitioning from her earlier hard anger to cool politeness in a manner of seconds.

"I hardly think this is the time to be courting." Dr. Frankenstein said, wiping a hand across his face. He was still piecing together exactly what _had_ transpired during their argument.

"I assure you, I haven't been traversing that particular sector in a while." Ethan protested, turning to pick up his earlier abandoned cup of tea from the side table.

"Ethan?" He glanced at the door. The teacup clattered back to the table as Ethan choked on his tea.

"Mr. Chandler?" Vanessa asked, brow creasing as her gaze darted between the now seemingly petrified Ethan and the young woman in the doorway.

"Amelieanne Raelene! What the _fuck_ are you doing here?" He turned around, fixing the petite blonde in a narrowed glare.

"Mr. Chandler. Do explain." Vanessa demanded, eyes wide.

"Ms. Ives, Dr. Frankenstein. May I introduce Amelianne T-Chandler... my sister." Ethan forced out through gritted teeth.

"How do you do." Amelie curtsied, then moved to take off her red velvet hat, setting it on a side table. Her wide blue eyes never left the others in the room, darting between Ethan and the others almost fearfully.

Ethan could feel the inquisitive stares of his colleagues. His mind spun. What the hell was his sister doing in Greater London? She was supposed to be at boarding school, for fuck's sake! He hadn't seen her since she was eleven, which would make her... shit, twenty now? She looked nearly unrecognizable in a red velvet travelling dress and lace gloves, all golden curls and dainty features.

"Perhaps you could excuse us?" Ethan said to the others in the room. Dr. Frankenstein immediately inclined his head and made haste for the front door, Vanessa warily passed Ethan in the direction of the kitchen.

Once they were gone, Ethan took a deep breath and tried to process the situation. They hadn't exchanged so much as a word in the last decade, and now his baby sister was here, a grown woman. The literal last thing he needed with hell knocking on the front door as it was.

"How'd you find me?" He growled, moving to sit on the couch. Amelie remained standing, pulling off her lace gloves. She pursed her lips and fixed him in a hard stare.

"Please. Once Scotland Yard blasts their way into your personal files, anyone can find you. Picking up your trail was as easy as finding a wounded animal in the snow." She pulled a stray blonde curl away from her face and moved to sit across from him.

"Funny, that English accent almost hides your American treachery. Dad put you up to this?" He suddenly wished he had a drink. Amelie let out a bark of laughter.

As if he could read minds, Simbene appeared in the doorway from the kitchen bearing a tray of tea and what mercifully looked to be brandy. Amelie accepted the tea gratefully and began drinking large gulps. Ethan noticed her hands shaking slightly. Simbene watched in surprise as Amelie quickly took two biscuits and nibbled them to nothing in mere seconds.

"How long's it been since you ate, kid?" Ethan asked, watching as she took two more biscuits and ate them as quickly as the first two.

"A day? Maybe more. Things are a little fuzzy." She said, taking another gulp of tea. "I hitched on a carriage ride, then walked a good portion, then hitched a wagon, then... walked more? I think. Yes."

"Simbene, would you be kind enough to rustle my sister up a meal?" Simbene nodded and disappeared into this kitchen. It was silent for a few moments as Amelia chewed the last biscuit on the tray and took another long sip of tea. Ethan eyed his untouched brandy, but another still remained to be answered.

"Kid, where did you come from? I thought you were being sent to boarding school in Rochester?" Amelie swallowed and eyed him warily.

"Cornwall. Father thought it would be best for me to receive an English education after... what happened."

"That sounds like he just wanted to you track me down like you did. You always were his pet. Tomorrow, you're in the carriage back to school."

Amelie's eyes widened and she lunged across the coffee table to grip his wrist tightly.

"You will not. Send. Me. Back." She said, large blue eyes burning into his. Ethan immediately noticed that her skin felt abnormally warm, like she were feverish.

"Are you feeling-" He didn't finish the sentence before Amelie Chandler's large blue eyes rolled back into her head and she toppled to the side, knocking the tea tray over as she went. Ethan grabbed her arm and managed to steer her ascent clear of the furniture.

"Simbene, run after the good Doctor." Vanessa's voice came from the doorway, both of them alerted by the crash. The manservant rushed to the door.

"Dammit, kid. You're more trouble that you're worth." Ethan growled, pulling a stray curl away from his sister's flushed cheek. He looked wistfully at his cup of brandy, now spilled all over the carpet. In the afternoon light, the dark stain looked eerily like blood.


	2. Chapter 2

Blue eyes. That was the first thing Amelie saw when her eyes snapped open. Blue locked on blue.

"What..." She whispered.

"Oh! Excuse me. Standing... too close." An unfamiliar voice said, coming from the same vicinity as the captivating ocean blue eyes. They retreated.

"Where am I?" Her voice came out raspy.

"You are in the home of Sir Malcolm Murray. Your, ah, brother is in the hall, and I- well, I am Doctor Frankenstein. Victor, F-Frankenstein." The Doctor mopped his brow and then looked at his sleeve, almost surprised by his actions. Amelie looked around.

"How do you feel?" The Doctor asked as he warily watched his patient push herself up in bed.

"Better. But I have business I must-" Her vision blurred and she slumped back on the pillows, already exhausted.

"You are anemic. You must eat some broth if you can bear to do so. Build your strength. Then you may attend to anything you need." Victor placed a hand on her feverish brow.

"You have kind hands." Amelie sighed, her eyes fluttering shut. Victor frowned. That was not a compliment he was used to getting from patients, considering most of them were corpses by the time he laid hands on them. He hadn't felt the warmth of a patient in quite some time.

"Rest easy, I will bring you food now that I know you can handle it." Victor said, pulling his hand away almost reluctantly.

"Any change?" Came Ethan's voice from the doorway.

"Ah, yes. She has regained consciousness. If you would be so kind as to sit with her, I will go fetch some food form the kitchens, if I may."

"Of course." Ethan said, moving to trade places with Frankenstein.

"She is... beautiful, your sister." Victor said as he collected his coat.

"I haven't seen her in years. Makes all this seem more than coincidence." Ethan replied.

"Isn't it always." Victor said. He gave Ethan a curt nod before taking his exit.

"What the hell is all this about?" Ethan found himself asking, letting his eyes take in his sister's face, so different from the last time he'd seen her...

 _"Please, she's the only one I have left!" Ethan's father sobbed. In front of the old man, several apache stood, holding a little girl between them._

 _"You slaughtered our women and children without mercy. Any damned man would face the same fate." One Apache said to him in English. Around the smoky church lay the bodies of the other Talbot children... Paul, Mary, and their mother. Amelianne stood between the taller Apache, not crying or moving, her face passive._

 _"Rip her heart out." Said the Apache. Ethan's Father screamed._

 _"No!" Two voices ripped through the church. All movement ceased. Ethan turned to see Kaetanay advancing through the church, passing him as he went._

 _"This child is marked." Kaetanay said in Apache. He strode up to Amelieanne and grabbed her wrist. On the inside was a ghostly scar._

 _"She got it from a dog when she was a baby." Ethan caught up to Kaetanay and pushed the elder man away from his sister. "I beg of you, do not harm her."_

 _"This girl was bitten by the wolf and yet does not obey the command of the moons. She-Who-Watches has plans for her." Kaetanay said pensively. "She will not be harmed. Now, we ride."_

 _The Apache began filing out of the church._

 _"Ethan?" Amelie asked, a single tear tracking through the grime and gore on her cheek. Ethan didn't reply, just turned on his heel and never gave a second glance, though guilt was eating his soul alive._

"You relive that day often, don't you?" Amelie's voice, much older now, cut through Ethan's reverie.

"You're awake." Frankenstein hadn't yet returned, which meant he hadn't been caught in his thoughts for long.

"The guilt gnaws at you in the night." Amelia said, fixing him in her vivid blue stare.

Ethan sighed, rubbed a shaking hand across his face, and then sighed and took his sister's hand between his, pressing his lips to it.

"You're all grown up." He couldn't help but let a tight smile leak onto his face.

"You've gotten older." Was all she said in reply. A quick rap on the door signaled the Doctor's return, closely followed by Simbene with the broth.

"That smells wonderful." Amelie said, pushing herself up in bed once more. Simbene gave her the soup and she began to swallow it as fast as she could.

"Please, Miss Chandler, with some care to your condition." Frankenstein said. Amelie's gaze flashed to Ethan almost questioningly, as before, then to the Doctor, and she slowly lowered her spoon in order to eat slower.

"Thank you, Doctor." Ethan said, looking between his sister and the Doctor.

"It is my pleasure." Frankenstein replied, inclining his head to them both. Another knock on the door signaled the arrival of Vanessa, closely followed by Sir Malcolm.

"Amelianne, Doctor Frankenstein works with me and my colleagues, which whose house this is. Miss Vanessa Ives, Sir Malcolm Murray." Ethan gestured to them all.

"Amelianne is an unusual name, you don't hear it often." Vanessa said, a smile playing on her lips.

"Amelie, please." Miss Chandler said, wiping her mouth on a napkin offered by Simbene.

"It is my pleasure to welcome you into my home, though I'm afraid you come at a rather grim time." Malcolm said from the doorway.

"Who died?" Amelie asked. Everyone in the room found another place for their eyes to be.

"It's not who is dead... but who is living, you could say." Vanessa said.

"We are searching for my daughter, who was taken under dark circumstances." Malcolm added.

"This house has been touched by evil." Amelie said, her blue eyes darting to each person in the room.

"What do you know of evil, kid?" Ethan asked. Amelie took a deep breath and handed her bowl back to Simbene, crumpling her napkin and placing it to her lips. Her eyes were suddenly glassy.

"I know what hunts you." She whispered. The room's temperature seemed to drop a little.

"I think it's time you told us what brought you here." Ethan replied. "Now."

"I-..." Amelie's eyes darted around the room again before rolling back in her head. She collapsed back on the pillows and Victor was at her side in a flash, checking her pulse.

"She knows something." Vanessa said, fixing the unconscious blonde in a dark stare.

"Well, no shit." Ethan said, putting his face in his hands.

"We need to talk." Sir Malcolm said, face grim.

* * *

"I really don't see how this could get worse." Ethan said, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was an hour later and the members of Sir Malcolm's company were assembled in the parlor again.

"I think we need to know what your sister knows." Vanessa said. She was sitting on the sofa, the light from the fire making her face look even more haunted than usual.

"I agree that her arrival is rather coincidental. She must know something about the creature and its whereabouts. She said so." Sir Malcolm said.

"I don't understand how. She's been at boarding school in the fucking country!" Ethan snapped.

"And you are quite sure that she is really your sister?" Vanessa asked.

"Of course I'm sure!"

"How do you know?" Frankenstein asked from his corner, where he'd barely spoken from. "You mentioned you'd been separated for many years."

"The mark on her arm." Ethan said. "I saw it when we took her upstairs. It's from a dog, she was bitten as a child."

The room fell into silence.

"And so we wait for the Master to come." Vanessa said. "We are back to the first square."

"He won't come. Not tonight." Amelie's voice came from the doorway.

"Miss Chandler, I must urge you to return to bed." Victor said, standing.

"I'm quite all right, Doctor. I feel the need to explain to you all what this is all about." She replied. Victor bit his lip, but offered her his seat, moving it closer to the fire. Amelie stared into the flames for a moment before she opened her mouth to speak.

"I'm afraid I haven't been quite honest with you, Ethan. You see, I was at boarding school in Rochester... but then something happened. Father felt it was necessary to put me overseas in order to protect... well, himself."

"Typical." Ethan snorted.

"While in Rochester, I met a group of women who were not entirely... normal. They were the followers of a dark religion. One that dabbled in witchcraft. While I didn't partake in their ceremonies, they accepted me into their ranks because I was useful to them."

"Money?" Ethan asked.

"Partially. But also information. I could get into places they couldn't because of my name."

"I didn't realize the Chandler name held importance here." Sir Malcolm said. The firelight was making his cheeks look almost skeletal.

Amelie fixed Ethan in her blue eyed stare again before continuing.

"It afforded me some leeway with the societies of the country, not so much the society of London. It's really more money than the name anyway. But I would gather information for them pertaining to the occult. That is where I first heard your name, Miss Ives."

"My name?" Vanessa asked.

"You are the one the Master is hunting, are you not?" This time it was Vanessa's turn to be on the end of Amelie's piercing stare.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Came the reply.

"Well, I have heard rumor of where his hideout is. All manner of dark things collect there. Creatures, Vampires, Men, Beasts..."

"Where is he?" Ethan asked.

"The Theater off of Piccadilly. It's dark and quiet and he can come and go as he pleases."

"Mina will be there." Vanessa said. st of t

"Do not be so sure." Amelie said, casting her eyes to the carpet. "She is shrouded in darkness."

"For better or worse." Sir Malcolm said.

"You don't know what this _thing_ is." Amelie spat. "What he's capable of. And those who reside above him on the food chain from hell."

"What's... above... _that."_ Frankenstein asked.

"Many dark things, all of which I hope have no more business with you after the Master is ended." Amelie replied.

"We must gather our strength. Forgive me, Doctor. But I think this is a fight you must sit out."

Frankenstein cast an almost fearful glance out the now-dark window.

"I will be here to see to your health, if you will allow it Sir Malcolm." He said.

"Of course. Have sanctuary while it is still here." Malcolm said tiredly.

"You're sure he won't attack tonight?" Ethan asked, looking at his sister.

"Positive." She replied.

"Then I think we all need to get some sleep." He said. The rest of the company nodded their assent. "Tomorrow we raise hell."


End file.
